Chapter Four ★ Grounded Cont’

｡☆✼★━ Daniel ━★✼☆｡

The hallway felt like it went up a few degrees. Sweat started to gather and roll down my back. It must be my imagination for the hum of the A/C unit was blasting cool air into the hallway.

Penny twined the end of one of her pig tails around her finger and unraveled it. Mrs. Lockhart’s voice droned on about the civil war in the classroom just before us. The door was opened just a crack and gave a dim view of teens with dull lidded eyes focused on nothing.

“Well?” Penny asked.

My feet shuffled on the floor and I looked down with a solid reply, “Errr.”

Her hand grabbed a hold of mine. It was soft like rose petals on a warm spring morning. A subtle crinkling sound emitted from our hands. She bent over and placed a gentle kiss on my cheek then removed her hand.

She bowed her head and said, “It’s okay if you don’t want to… but I’ve always thought you were cute… even for a dork. You can give me an answer later.”

Okay either I’m dreaming or I’ve been waylaid into the Twilight Zone. Never in a million years would Penny ever ask me out. Especially a dork like me. What’s the catch?

I swallowed. Hard. The Sahara desert must of taken residence in my mouth for it was dry and made it hard to talk. Penny left before I could answer.

Paper crinkled once more as my hand clenched around it. What did she give me? Un-balling the mass I read the text written on it. It said:

Hall Pass – Tardy Excuse

Well, isn’t that dandy? Is Penny really falling for a dork like me? Hmmm. It would be better if I didn’t trust it for she could be laying a trap. I’ll ask Jacob later. Time for class.

Pushing the door open I waltzed on into class. Other students snickered. Naturally I stopped to make sure my fly wasn’t undone. That would have been embarrassing.

“Mr. Shaw, you’re late.” Mrs. Lockhart said while writing on the board. She didn’t have to even look to know it was me. Most of use in her class think that she’s a witch.

“Sorry, Mrs. Lockhart, my locker was jammed again.” I said and bowed my head.

She waved her hand absentmindedly and said, “Whatever. Just take your seat. Do your best to catch up.”

Jacob my friend was waving at me. He motioned to the desk next to him. He had saved me a seat.

In Mrs. Lockhart’s class there are no assigned seats. It was a first come first serve basis and if you were late then you were doomed to sit in the front. Which by the way isn’t the best place because you get called on to answer questions all the time.

I hustled over and sat down. He signed at me in American Sign Language (ASL) “What’s wrong?”

With a shake of my head I signed back, “Not right now.”

Mrs. Lockhart let out an exasperated sigh and said, “Because your fellow classmate has decided to be late I’m going to give you a pop quiz.”

The whole class groaned. Many students thumped their heads against the desk table tops. Others threw paper wads at me. Fair enough. I did deserve it because of the pop quiz.

Shielding myself from the paper missiles I said, “Sorry.”

Mrs. Lockhart took a stack of papers from her desk and walked down each aisle handing out a test. She instructed, “Please do not start until I say so. You will have ten minutes to complete it when I tell you to start.”

She paused at my desk and placed the paper down then bent over. Caught in her eerie gaze she whispered, “See me after class, Mr. Shaw.”

The Sahara made its return and lodged itself in my throat. A lump that refused to go down beckoned tears to form in my eyes. She held her gaze a second too long before she stood up and went to the next student.

Jacob slapped me hard on the back and I coughed then wheezed. I took deep breaths. Jacob patted me on the back then withdrew. For the test was about to begin.

Mrs. Lockhart, our rather short pear shaped, teacher took her position at the front of the class. She pulled out a tarnished bronze pocket watch and adjusted the dial. Her left thumb caressed the clasp when she glanced about the room.

She announced, “You may now begin.”

Her thumb pressed down and the door to the watch opened. Today was odd for her movements were mesmerizing. I could not stop watching her.

I swore her eyes shifted from human to something catlike. It was only for a second but the purple with vertical slits were unmistakable. I’ve got to tell Jacob this after class.

A slight nudge broke the trance and I looked over to see Jacob pointing at the test on the desk. Oh yeah. The pop quiz. What’s wrong with me?

Time ticked away and I did my best to answer question about General Sherman. For one thing he wasn’t ice cream but that’s all I knew. I’m pretty sure I flunked this quiz.

‧͙⁺˚*·༓☾ – TO BE CONTINUED… –☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙